Monday, November 21, 2016
523 - Yours Truly
Spirituality Column No. 523
November 22, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
In a season of loud opinions measured against this annual week of humble thanksgiving, I am thankful for truth.
Real truth. Objective truth. Divine truth. The truth of Jesus Christ.
Identifying truth in the world is always done at a human handicap – people in all times, places and cultures have little more than opinions to work with from whence they unapologetically extrapolate intractable but regularly flawed moral judgments. At this American moment in history, identifying truth is all the more confusing, perhaps impossible, amid a boisterous, rancorous, apparently endless and thoroughly polarized political season. Do I have hope for our nation? Yes I do. Is “hope” a “truth?” No, in this context it’s merely a contentious point of view.
So in this chattering national conversational climate of crossed purposes and obstinate opinions, why does truth seem so elusive?
Because, I would suggest, we are looking for truth in all the wrong places.
The real deal capital-T truth only exists where the majority of people don’t want to look: in the person of Jesus Christ. Legal truth, political truth, academic truth, social truth and virtually any other human-generated worldly truth may lead us to pleasant or unpleasant situational and physical realities, but the worst place to look for capital T truth is in a human heart and maybe, especially our own. Let me explain.
“Be true to your heart” can be good or bad or terrible advice. Although Jesus may well be alive in your heart, never forget Satan is too. Pride, fear, power, reprisal, greed, faction and many other sins are all heart temptations that make “my truth” vs. “your opinion” an incendiary, love-throttling cocktail. Arrogance, you see, is unaffiliated with truth because arrogance lacks love. Jesus, one notices, was pretty humble.
Don’t panic or be offended that Satan is hanging near; he sidled up to Jesus, too. Just know that truth isn’t the invasive bodily and spiritual temptations of Satan; truth is the person of Jesus Christ: His mercy, compassion, patience, love and glory.
We fumble the ball when we mistake our own opinion for the will of God, and I hate when I do that. God may reveal His will to us, but we must be aware he reveals it to others as well. That’s why the holy person of Jesus factors heavily in the truth equation because He is the only truth. In His own words: “I am the way and the truth and the life…” (John 14:6), and He meant it. Most likely you know the rest.
Our discernment of truth does not rely on our clever and energetic arguments but on our faith, trust and love of Jesus.
When one possesses all that, thankfully, opinions don’t matter.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) prays that only the grateful, charitable love and truth of Jesus converge at your Thanksgiving table. (I know… good luck with that.)
November 22, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
Yours Truly
By Bob WaltersIn a season of loud opinions measured against this annual week of humble thanksgiving, I am thankful for truth.
Real truth. Objective truth. Divine truth. The truth of Jesus Christ.
Identifying truth in the world is always done at a human handicap – people in all times, places and cultures have little more than opinions to work with from whence they unapologetically extrapolate intractable but regularly flawed moral judgments. At this American moment in history, identifying truth is all the more confusing, perhaps impossible, amid a boisterous, rancorous, apparently endless and thoroughly polarized political season. Do I have hope for our nation? Yes I do. Is “hope” a “truth?” No, in this context it’s merely a contentious point of view.
So in this chattering national conversational climate of crossed purposes and obstinate opinions, why does truth seem so elusive?
Because, I would suggest, we are looking for truth in all the wrong places.
The real deal capital-T truth only exists where the majority of people don’t want to look: in the person of Jesus Christ. Legal truth, political truth, academic truth, social truth and virtually any other human-generated worldly truth may lead us to pleasant or unpleasant situational and physical realities, but the worst place to look for capital T truth is in a human heart and maybe, especially our own. Let me explain.
“Be true to your heart” can be good or bad or terrible advice. Although Jesus may well be alive in your heart, never forget Satan is too. Pride, fear, power, reprisal, greed, faction and many other sins are all heart temptations that make “my truth” vs. “your opinion” an incendiary, love-throttling cocktail. Arrogance, you see, is unaffiliated with truth because arrogance lacks love. Jesus, one notices, was pretty humble.
Don’t panic or be offended that Satan is hanging near; he sidled up to Jesus, too. Just know that truth isn’t the invasive bodily and spiritual temptations of Satan; truth is the person of Jesus Christ: His mercy, compassion, patience, love and glory.
We fumble the ball when we mistake our own opinion for the will of God, and I hate when I do that. God may reveal His will to us, but we must be aware he reveals it to others as well. That’s why the holy person of Jesus factors heavily in the truth equation because He is the only truth. In His own words: “I am the way and the truth and the life…” (John 14:6), and He meant it. Most likely you know the rest.
Our discernment of truth does not rely on our clever and energetic arguments but on our faith, trust and love of Jesus.
When one possesses all that, thankfully, opinions don’t matter.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) prays that only the grateful, charitable love and truth of Jesus converge at your Thanksgiving table. (I know… good luck with that.)
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